SmittyBilt XRC REAR BUMPER YJ & TJ - SB76653

I have been eyeing this XRC bumper for my Jeep TJ for months but has not been available for more than 7 months. When it finally became available I did not hesitate to buy and I purchased the tire carrier as well. The overall design and gauge of material is far superior to those copy cat brands so be careful when looking for a cheaper replacement. This design is mounted to the frame with a total 18 bolts and critical brackets/bracing you won’t find on copy cat brands. This bumper is tow rated you will not find on most bumpers. Now there are four bolts that are difficult to install and may require that that you drop the fuel tank. Now the sad thing is that it is not manufactured in the US but in China. I am assuming an American design and manufactured with strict tolerances. As much as I try to purchase American only it is sometimes not feasible due to budget constraints. At least my purchase was from a US company supporting jobs in the mainland. Bottom line this is a well designed product that deserves your attention and consideration.

I bought this bumper after buying a Bestop Highock rear from JCW and receiving it damaged. I hoped for the best with this one. It came packaged very well and didn't have a scratch on it. It is pretty heavy, and very sturdy. I love the finish. It's kind of like a bedliner finish but not as rough. As for the installation... PITA! It took me about 5 hrs start to finish. I could probably do it again in about 2 or less, but uncertainties throughout dragged it out. You have to drill 4 holes to mount bolts, and while it came with a good template, it was hard to get to line up so I drilled them over a size larger. WIth all the other attaching points, I really don't see these 4 holes to be drilled necessary, but I plan on towing some items so I went ahead and did it. Unless you have tiny hands or are very ingenuitive, plan on dropping the gas tank. I preplanned the install and was on "E" so it made it super easy to drop it. Also, the larger bolts used for installing the braces/brackets were to short so I had to leave off the lock washers, but I used a thread sealer anyways so no big deal. And lastly, the bumper quality was above standard. All welds were very clean, all holes lined up for the most part, and the coating is nice. In the end the bumper didn't line up exactly even.... maybe an 1/8 to a 1/4 of an inch off center. Again, no big deal. I would recommend and buy again.

Not an install to do by yourself as the bumper is pretty heavy to hold with one hand while trying to put a bolt in. I recommend running your bolts into the nuts on bumper before trying to fit it up in place as the coating can make putting the bolts in straight a bit difficult in some cases. I also had to drop the fuel tank to get a few of the bolts in place. I installed this on a '97 Jeep Wrangler Sport and it fit up to the stock frame nicely. Had to widen two holes a bit, but didn’t take long with a circular file. The bracing on the inside of the bumper to the frame of the jeep seems good and solid. The one drawback (other than the coating making the bolts difficult) was the relocation of the backup lights. The previous owner of the jeep had put in 4" round flush mount tail lights and put 2" square LED backup lights in the stock bumper. I can’t remount them on this bumper because they would be facing downward. I am either going to put in a couple 2" round LED backup lights in the bumper or go back to a tail light / turn signal / back up light assembly, have not decided yet. Mounted the spare tire swing gate and everything is nice and solid.

Although when I bought this bumper it was not mentioned here, if you go to Smittybilt's website, you will see the receiver hitch is actually a class III which means it is tow rated for probably more than you would ever want to tow with your jeep! That is good news for those of us who use our jeeps to pull small boats, utility trailers etc... This bumper looks great, has very decent welds, nice finish, and is very heavy duty. It is a real pain in the but to get a couple of the bolts in. Although I did find it a lot easier once I got the right tool combo set up; ratchet with a looong extension and a wobble on the end. Go in from the wheel wells AFTER removing the plastic liners. Installed this thing looks great and really cleans up the rear end of the jeep. It should have come with something to fill the slots for the tire carrier (it came with a plate for the hinge side, but nothing for the latch side) since I am running it without the carrier I used the included plate on the hinge side, and I used the rubber fillers from a parking brake kit which fit perfectly to fill the slots for the latch side! The only other complaint is that a little powder coat was scraped off during shipping (thank you UPS) I am going to try to get some touch up paint from Smittybilt. If you like the way it looks I definitely recommend this bumper as it is very heavy duty and even tow rated!

This is an awesome bumper! -When archaeologists find the Jeep TJ / LJ in a controlled Indiana Jones type of dig, this Smittybilt 76653 XRC rear YJ/TJ/LJ bumper will outlast the Jeep itself. Someone else that reviewed this very same bumper made statement of that effect and I totally agree! -Any small plastic & aluminum car that hits the Jeep in the rear, with this bumper on, will be badly damaged and\or destroyed which the insurance company will have to declare said small car a "Total Loss". -Heavy metal construction and Class III towing that is overkill for any short wheelbase Jeep YJ & TJ and feasible for a Jeep LJ with an auto trans. -"No Drill Installation" = wrong! They loose a star over that and be sure NOT to drill the 7/16" hole in the rear of Jeep's frame as instructed, instead drill a 9/16" hole plus be careful of the fuel tank with the drill bit. To their credit, The Communist Chinese supplied a drilling template and that's a good start. -When first installing this bumper, leave "all" of the fasteners loose so that all the bolt holes will line up better as there's a lot of them (factory TJ bumper only had 6 bolts in all). -Many folks think that the tire carrier (part no. 76654) is included and it is NOT...please read the description of this item. Again, the tire carrier ** Smittybilt 76654 XRC Black Textured Rear Swing Away ** is NOT included even though it's pictured for demo purposes only. -If installing this yourself w/o assistance, be sure to have a good floor jack and some scrap wood block to prevent damage to the bumper (and yourself) when you lift it into place and from denting the bottom of the wimpy OEM fuel tank skid plate when you deal with that later. After seeing the nature of said skid plate, I wanna upgrade now and feel foolish for not seeing this in the past when I got the Jeep TJ new on Oct. 09, 2003. -You need to remove all 6 of the 13mm nuts holding the fuel tank in place (2 up front above differential housing & 4 in near bumper) to drop it and balance it on the floor jack (having a near empty fuel tank really helps and 1\2 full doesn't cut it). -Don't forget the T20 Torx hardware that secures the filler tube in place as that will need to be removed before dropping the Jeep fuel tank. -The following combo wrenches will be needed: 16mm, 17mm, 18mm, 19mm and maybe 13mm and have a 15mm standing by if you're going to install the Smittybilt XRC tire carrier. I list all these sizes as that's what I remember using in the bumper & tire carrier install. -Be sure to trim away a portion of the factory gas tank skid plate's rear as that will interfere with re-installation as it will hit the rear of the hitch itself on the portion of bumper that is towards the front of Jeep: all you need is an extra 1/4 of wiggle room so you don't pop out the studs for the 13mm nuts when you lift the tank back into place. Enclosed is a pict of this trimmed item. ^^Jeep LJ owners can ignore this suggestion.^^ -16mm deep well socket w/ a stubby ratchet to attach bolt to bumper from near gas tank area along with munchkin hands hands (which I do not have) help. ^^Jeep LJ owners can ignore this suggestion.^^ -Use anti-seize on all hardware installed as the factory grease in the holes the Chinese supplies is cheap and will wash away with the next rainfall. -The heavy duty D~Ring attachment points on this are icing on the cake! Be sure to not to get cheap ones as it's your safety at stake. -Upgraded the Jeep's external lighting with this item if & when some small towing will come about: Tow Ready 118409 T-One Connector Assembly -If you're gonna get a trailer mounting hitch, get a made in USA one as some the import ones have failed here in Alaska's deep Interior cold. All in all, this Smittybilt rear bumper is of very good value that comes with so-so instructions, hence the 4 star rating as well. It's way overbuilt for the small Jeep it fits on to and that's the way we Jeep owners like that! "And there it is." - Emperor Josef II in 1984's awarding winning Amadeus (Director's Cut)

This 76653 rear bumper is solid. Installed on 06 LJ. I chose this bumper mainly to have better rear full width protection and it is tow rated. Posted a pic of rating tag. LJ is rated for 3500 lb MAX! so this bumper will do just fine. Now as for mounting. 2 people advised for install but I done it myself and it is a hand full to hold in place and start bolts. The 4 bolts that go through rear cross member took multiple attempts as templet got holes close but had to finesse a bit to get bolts in. After that its just bolting everything up. The corner support brackets do require drilling .5 inch hole in frame also. The instructions are ok guide but the parts list im guessing is a generic list as it shows standard bolts and for 9000 lb rated bumper. Also says bolts are grade 8. All bolts that came with bumper are metric 10 mm and 12mm bolts grade 8.8 equivalent of grade 5. I verified before install that the nuts welded in this bumper are in fact metric. It took about 7 hours total to remove old stock bumper and hitch. Then install this bumper. Also if you are running anything larger than stock 245/75 16 tire you will need to get the tire carrier. I am running on stock tire and spare tore clears bumper by 1/4 inch.

Have a 1997 Jeep TJ Sport 4.0. Wanted to update the factory bumpers and go with something well built with recovery attachments and 2" Receiver Hitch. This bumper far out weighed my expectations. It is built solid with thick heavy steel. It is very heavy and built for a tank. The box and packaging was overkill also, the bumpers and parts were double wrapped with bubble wrap, then wrapped with heavy duty material for extra padding and abrasion resistance along with reinforced heavy duty foam to keep from shifting and damage. If you aren't purchasing a Smittybuilt, then you are buying an inferior product. My neighbor purchased a knock off generic bumper that looks like a Smittybuilt, but I wouldn't pull an empty beer can out of the sand with it. I purchased the following items from Smittybuilt, and they are all built for a tank Smittybilt 76653 XRC Textured Black Rear Bumper Smittybilt 76800 XRC Front Bumper,Black Smittybilt 76654 XRC Black Textured Rear Swing Away

This thing is a monster (this review is being left for both halves of this bumper). I have a 2006 Unlimited LJ model Wrangler. For those who have this model this bumper goes on like a CHAMP. There is NO need to move or drop the fuel tank because the longer wheel base gives you the room to rummage around up there. On like BUTTER. At the least the base bumper portion of this went on like butter. For those who have the same idea I did though, you REQUIRE both halves of this bumper. Your stock tire carries with a 33" tire will NOT fit over the lower bumper after it is installed. The lower half, despite having a dipping surface, rests about an inch HIGHER than stock. So get both parts. The upper portion with the swing away had a couple issues (hence the 4 starts on the swing away). Few things to know: 1) Read ALL the directions. The directions talk about the tightening bolts at the hinge being used to adjust the bumper up and down. It is a bit vague, but there are 3 bolts going through the hinge, and you tighten them to raise the bumper and loosed to lower. There are also 2 shims you can put under the hinge and it is the combo of these shims and tightening bolts that allow you to fine tune the height of the bumper to slot into the handle hole when closed. Note, this might take 2 or three install attempts if you don't start with the shims underneath, mine took about 3 attempts. 2) This bad boy comes with 1 handle already attached but a mine bad-A handle in the box you can switch out. There are no instructions on how to do this but it is fairly intuitive but requires some hammering. 3) The hinge comes with 2 soft washers, I could not for the life of me get both on. This whole thing is a bit "not to specification" but is largely adjustable so it doesn't matter. I just left the top soft washer off since it wouldn't fit, and because it would not really be seeing any wear. All in all, I love this bumper, you can adjust almost every facet of it, though the adjusting process can take awhile.

This is a great bumper, I did not have to remove the fuel tank on my 89 YJ as I was able to get all the bolts in only the 2 on the filler side of the gas tank were a bit tricky. It did help that I have a 2 inch body lift on my jeep. This bumper with the spare tire rack was one of the best purchases I have made for the jeep so far, and it looks great with the XRC front bumper on it as well. Got that on amazon on a deal for $250, so just keep your eyes open and good things can happen.

For people who are purchasing the bumper and tire carrier together I have a couple of tips that will save you some time and frustration. Tip #1 Install the tire carrier bolt and jam but into the bumper before installing the bumper. Also I had to run a tap into the welded nut on the bumper do to some powder coating/ weld spatter. Tip #2 Install the L nut plate with a couple of bolts just finger tight to hold in place, can be a pain in the but after the bumper is installed. Tip #3 (just for the bumper it’s self) if you have the TJ (not the LJ) like I do, the 2” receiver hitch square tubing was a bit long (towards the fuel tank) this mean I needed to trim about 1/2-3/8 of an inch off the skid plate bracket in between the mounting bolts for the fuel tank. As I had to lower the tank to install the 4 bolts you have to drill holes for. Once the bumper once installed I was not able to lift the fuel tank back in place without trimming that little bit off to clear the square tubing. Now for the review of the bumper, I have to say I am very impressed with mounting on it, Smittybilt has really stepped their game from years ago Fit and finish was excellent and I am very happy with the price and product.

Putting this on along was like wrestling a gator for 4 hrs but its on. The additional weight if of the bumper and the tire is considerable and i do find that i bottom out my 6in lift more often than i used to. I went to a heavier rear spring and its still a concern. Will have to be more creative. Good option for a rear tow point and tire carrier regardless of the weight

MAKE SURE THE HOLES YOU DRILL ARE ON THE MONEY OR YOU'LL BE FIGHTING WITH THE INSTALL FOR HOURS

It's exac what I wanted.